Three to Tango
by Crystal Luna Starr
Summary: It's summer vacation, and two girls are dancing toe to toe in a dance competition for a certain prize: Takato's heart! But what happens when all three of them end up tripping over their own emotions? Will the beat of love lead them on?
1. Suprise Suprise

Woo. Sequel:3

Basically speaking, I couldn't take the boredom anymore. XD

Once again, it's Takato's POV. Enjoy!

--

The birds chirped and I sat there underneath the shade of Guilmon's paddock roof. I looked up at the blue sky, shielding my eyes from the hot sun that blazed down. I had thoughts on my mind. A lot of them.

"I'll try and come back during Golden Week or maybe during the summer sometime..."

The words rang in my head. Golden week (AN: Golden week is like spring break) had already passed, and summer had started about a week ago. So what was I to do?

"TAH-KAH-TOH!" Henry viciously waved his hand infront of my face. (AN: Futari de La La La reference. XD)

My train of thought broke off. "Huh?"

"You weren't paying attention again." My friend laughed.He was sitting indian style on the floor, and I sat next to him.

"Oh... sorry. Just was thinking about stuff."

"Her again?"

"Yeah..." I said, looking at Henry with a "Sorry man" look.

He smiled, returning it with an "It's okay" look. "I was just saying, where do you think Rika is?"

"Dunno... didn't you call her?" I asked.

"Yeah, but she said that she was doing something important, and she couldn't talk, just that she'd meet up with us at some point."

"What do you think is up?" I looked at him with a small grin. Henry and Rika had recently gotten together, and it was interesting how they practically knew what the other was thinking.

Henry smiled, and looked up towards the sky. "Actually, I have no idea."

"Seriously? Mr. Rika Nonaka, having no idea what his beloved was up to?" I joked, and I got a sock in the arm in return.

"I'm serious, I have no idea what could be going on with her."

"Well, speak of the devil," I said. I could see a small figure running towards us, followed by another. I stood up, and Henry followed my suit. I walked down the stairs, and I waited at the bottom.

But just as I hit the last step, I heard someone call out my name at my right.

"TAKATO-KUN!"

A loud voice shouted at me, and I turned to see it's owner. But before I could see anything, a flash of color blinded me and I was pinned to the floor by someone familiar...

"Jeri!"

Jeri's face was infront of mine as she layed ontop of me in the dust. It was definately her. Her hair was a bit longer, and she no longer had a part of it in a ponytail, so her hair fell onto her shoulders. She wore a white tube top with a small rose pin on it, and a blue skirt that swished against my legs.

"Takato! I haven't seen you in ages!" She said, as she hugged me.

"You're hurting me, Jeri..." I said, as I attempted to sit up. She clasped her neck around me, making it harder, but when I finally was able to prop myself in the dust, I heard a voice say my name again.

"...Takato?"

I looked over, and Rika stood there, but behind her, a familiar girl stood there, covering her mouth with her leather-covered hand.

"Crystal?"

My former dance teacher and the girl who had been in my thoughts for so long stood there, with an astonished look.

I don't blame her. I was being glomped by the girl who I used to love, after all.

--

Woo! Wow, the idea of a sequel feels funny XD But yeah. First chapter! It gets juicier too! Woo... okay... I'm gonna shut up now. 


	2. Awkward Moments and Pleasant Feelings

Woo. Second chapter. Not gonna talk this time, in fear of letting something out XD;

Some inside stuff - some of the stuff that's said is kind of based on some of the talks I've had with my boyfriend before. So yeah. That's where I'm getting most of this.

--

"So let me get this straight. You're here... why?"

After Jeri had gotten off of me, I stood in a small circle of Henry, Rika, and the two girls who I had fallen in love with at one point - Jeri, and Crystal.

"Well, Crystal just came over here out of the blue," Rika explained before her cousin could talk. "She called me and said, 'Hey cuz, can I get a ride from the airport?' and we picked her up."

"Mom and dad thought that I had liked the trip to Japan so much that I should go again, for leisure," Crystal explained. Her head was turned away from me, and she refused to look me in the eye.

Although I felt kind of hurt that Crystal wouldn't talk to me, after ages of fantasizing about her return, I couldn't help but feel a little bugged. I hadn't done anything to her, I had just gotten hugged by Jeri. What was I supposed to do about it?

"And you?" I asked, addressing Jeri. I turned towards her, and she smiled.

"Well, you should know, Takato-kun. I sent you that letter after all!" Jeri said, grinning at me.

'Actually, no I don't know what--' I stopped in midthought. Actually, that wasn't true. I remember seeing a postcard addressed to me, but I had always thought it was from Kai. I had been too busy with finals then to read a postcard anyway. And if I had, it must of skipped my mind with the extreme cram-age, and then the after school party, and then...

"Oh... right," I blushed a bit, embarrassed that I hadn't really remembered. I heard a small "hmph!" escape from Crystal's mouth. I looked at the ground and kept quiet.

"I told you I had changed," Jeri grinned, referring to the letter (I think). "But I bet you didn't believe me!"

"Yeah..." I blinked, "I didn't."

Henry looked at me suspiciously, but shrugged it off. "So, how long are you two staying over here?"

"Well," Jeri said, grinning, "a relative of mine kinda lives close by, so I'm staying at their house for most of the summer."

"Two months, about. Kinda wish I was leaving earlier now." Crystal replied, still not looking me in the eye. She crossed her arms, and another "hmph" escaped.

I looked at her, with mixed emotions. One half of me wanted to run over and hug her, tell her how much I missed her and how much I had been thinking about her. The other part of me wanted to yell, "WHAT THE HELL DID I DO!" I mean, why was she mad at ME when I had done nothing but get hugged?

I decided to do something entirely different. I grabbed Crystal's hand and muttered an "I-need-to-talk-to-you-in-private", and dragged her off.

I don't remember how far we walked until finally she ripped her hand away from me. I turned to her, looking into her eyes.

There was a strange silence that stood there between us, kind of like whenever we ended up bickering about something. I always felt guilty, because everytime it happened I felt like she had pulled our friendship away and ripped it up into shreds, even though after a bit of talking it would always return to the way it was before, where we were laughing as if we had known each other all our life, even though we had only known each other for a few months.

"So, you wanna tell me about your new girlfriend?" She asked me, narrowing her eyes.

"She isn't my girlfriend." I said in a low voice.

"Really? 'Oh, Takato-kun! I've missed you so much!' That SURE doesn't sound like you're goody-goody friends to me."

"You want it honestly?"

"Well, duh."

"She's my friend. That's all."

"And you want it honestly?"

"Sure."

"I can't really believe you on that." Crystal said, sitting down on the grass. I sat down next to her, trying to make her understand.

"Look, I'm serious. I mean... we might've..." I paused. How was I supposed to phrase the fact that Jeri and I had gone out, without sounding weird?

"Might've what?"

"Had a few feelings for each other, I guess, but that was WAY back!" I exclaimed at her. "We broke up after she moved. I didn't think I'd see her much so I didn't see much of a point."

There was an odd silence, and then I heard Crystal speak. "What about me?"

"What about you?" I said. "You're awesome. You taught me how to dance. You gave me advice when I needed it. You've been there when I need you. What about you?"

"I don't see you much, and yet, we're..." she drifted off.

"Together?"

Crystal looked at me. "Well, I guess you could say that, depending. I thought about you a lot, and even though you said that you loved me... I guess that most of me thought that you'd just forget about me when I left Japan."

"Well, if that's what you were expecting, I didn't." I replied. "I thought of you all the time. That's why I felt so... confused when Jeri came. I mean, I liked her before, but you're my current love life."

"Really?" Crystal said in a low whisper, looking at me with grateful eyes.

"Yeah," I grinned at Crystal, and received a glomp in response. She wrapped her arms around me and I wrapped my arms back around her, as we held each other a bit underneath the clouds.

All felt content for a bit as we sat there together. But was bound to return, so I decided to get it out of the way already.

"So is there anything else you wanted to ask me, before I end up feeling guilty that we're cuddling like this?"

"Well..." Crystal looked at me thoughtfully. "What are we going to do about her? I have this feeling she's gonna be around you a lot."

"I kind of think she still has feelings for me," I said, holding Crystal close. "It kinda makes me feel..."

"Uncomfortable?" Crys suggested, and I nodded as she answered my statement.

"I don't know what to do about it... I honestly don't have any feelings for her."

As Crystal and I continued to talk about it and embrace each other in the warm, summer air, I questioned my statement in my head. -Did- I have any feelings left for Jeri? I couldn't tell. She had left town abruptly, and I only had time to mutter my goodbyes. Funny, it kind of seemed like my relationship with Crystal. The two relationships weren't too different, now that I thought about it, except Crystal lived in America, and Jeri had moved to North Korea (AN: This is where I decided to put her, don't complain to me). The more I thought about it, the more curious I got about how I did feel about Jeri anymore...

--

So how do you like it? A little bit longer than usual, if you hadn't noticed. But I had a lot on my hands while my account was banned from submitting oo; So yeah. Anyway, R&R, I guess. 


	3. Beach House Plans

Right now, I'm just all, "Meh...", shove a random person over a cliff, and go, "I'm too emotional to deal with you right now."

I have a lot on my mind - Don't I ALWAYS? - but ne. Enjoy. oo

--

"Come over to my house. Now."

"Wait, huh, what?"

Click.

I stood there, phone in my hand, dial tone echoing in the quiet hall. Jeez, Rika must not like being on the phone much.

I slowly clicked the power button so that the phone turned off, layed it onto the small sidetable in the hall. I looked around, and then shouted aloud, so my parents could hear me.

"Leaving for Rika's!"

I shoved my feet into my shoes, and then paused as my right foot sat upon my sneaker. A faint, "Be back soon!" came from upstairs, and I proceeded to shove my right foot inside the sole of my shoe, and then ran out the door.

It took me a little while to get to Rika's house, but the first thing I saw was a bright red convertible. VERY bright red. Lipstick colored. I could probably see it a mile away.

Rika stood there, embarrassed as her mother fluttered about, jabbering on about SOMETHING. She was looking at the floor with her arms crossed and her cheeks slightly red, tapping her foot as if to say, "Jeez, aren't you DONE yet?"

She could probably go around the world and Rumiko would STILL be jabbering on about... what WAS she talking about, anyway?

As I approached, Henry came out from inside, with Crystal following. Terriermon layed in a sprawling position on Henry's head, and Puppishumon popped her head out from Crystal's backpack and climbed onto her shoulder, but quickly ducked back into the backpack as she saw Rumiko.

"Oh, hey guys," Rika muttered, and her mother continued to move about. Rika ignored it, and faced me. "Grandma, mom and I are all going to this beachouse or whatever that mom rented and bought her new convertible so she's being all... ya know. Ecstatic."

"What does this have to do with us?" I blinked, staring at Rika.

"Well, she said I could invite some friends. And honestly, do you think I wanna put up with THIS the whole time by myself?" Rika gestured with a wave of her hand towards her mother.

"How long is it?" I asked.

"Umm... 'bout a month. Got these guys convinced to come already," Rika motioned behind her, where Crystal sat down with her backpack on her lap, her blue pup's head peeking out every so often. Henry stood behind her, and gently put his hands on her waist.

"Anyone else?"

"Well..."

As Rika spoke, a heard a familar voice.

"Oh no, let me guess." I muttered, before being tackled down to the ground by a brunette.

"Takato-kun!" I heard her say, her breath in my ear (AN: Ew. oO). I glanced at her, and her face was directly near mine.

"Hmph," I heard Crystal mutter under her breath, and Henry glanced at her. I attempted to get up, and I noticed Jeri's arms were wrapped around my waist.

"Guess what Takato! I'm going on the beach trip too!"

"Lovely," I muttered quietly under my breath, then returned my voice to the proper volume. "I mean, great Jeri! That'll be great."

Yeah. Just as great as being pushed off a cliff.

I stood up, and Jeri finally let go of my waist. Rika explained the information again for Jeri's sake, and the brunette nodded over and over as Rika spoke.

"Oh yeah," Rika said, turning to the others, making sure her mom wasn't paying attention. "You can bring... well, ya know." Rika motioned towards Terriermon and Puppi. We all understood.

"Cool! Mom and dad'll probably let me. Katzei'll LOVE this." Jeri smiled.

"'Katzei'?" Henry stared at Jeri, with befuddlement.

"Oh, nothing..." Jeri smiled at us. Henry raised his eyebrow, but didn't bother asking about it anymore.

'This is great,' I thought. I hadn't done much with Guilmon lately. I think he's bored. Like the rest of us, he's matured a bit. It makes sense - Five years IS a while. He finally speaks a bit better, but he's now less easily entertained.

"Oh man... Gotta find that red suitcase again," I muttered to myself, remembering the method I used to get Guilmon out of the house last time, when I went to Kai's place (AN: The Adventures' Battle reference).

"So... yeah." Rika said to us, somewhat retreating to her house. "Come tommorrow morning, at 10. Be sure to tell your 'rents and stuff."

Rika disappeared into her house.

"Ah, well... I best be off to pack... again." Crystal shrugged, rolling her eyes. She stood, walked over to me and give me a small hug, then disappeared after her cousin.

"Isn't this great, Takato?" Jeri looked at me, hugging my waist again. "We'll be spending a whole month under the same roof!"

"Yeah, Jeri... Just... great." I muttered.

I mean, how great could it be, when two girls who loved me were going to be there, probably battling it out? Certainly not great in my perspective.

--

Erk. Things seem a bit OOC in this chapter. Oi. Better chapter next time. 


	4. Postcards and Letters

Umm... yeah. Lack of commentry.

* * *

"C'mon, c'mon..." I muttered, shoving a bunch of things into my backpack. I was doing the same thing I had done the last time I had gone out of town to Kai's (AN: Adventures' Battle reference) and grabbing as many things as possible to shove into my backpack.

It was late afternoon, and the sun's rays were shining into my room as I started packing for my trip to the Nonaka's beach house tommorrow. I currently was trying to sit on my clothes, trying to force them into a small, compact backpack.

I got launched off of my backpack and hit my back against the wall, the mass of clothes and other things that I had brought with me scattering themselves across the room. "Great, just great..." I said, getting up and dusting myself off a bit.

I proceeded to get up and started to gather my things again. I was never the most organized person when it came to packing clothes.

I picked one of my shirts off from my desk when my eye spotted something. "Hm?" I wondered aloud to myself. I picked it up.

It was a colorful looking letter, covered in stickers and whatnot. Still left unopened. It was adressed to me.

Holding my shirt underneath my arm, I tore the envelope open with a loud ripping noise. Out fell a small piece of paper, and I picked it up, reading the small, neat handwriting.

_Dear Takato-kun,_

_Hey! It's me, Jeri! (:3) I'm just writing to let you know that I'm gonna be comin' back to Shinjuku soon! Isn't that great? I'm gonna bring Katzeimon, too! Katzeimon is what that digimon you gave me -WAY- back before I moved, Kitamon, digivolved to. Katzei and I are great partners, and even though we don't really fight, we take care of each others and get along great!_

_But I didn't really mean to write about Katzei, although she's kinda looking forward to Guilmon. I think she's kinda interested in him (xD) Wouldn't that be cute? Our digimon could be together, boyfriend and girlfriend, like we are! Hehe! (nn) What I really meant to write about was that when I come and see you, you're DEFINATELY gonna get a kick out of it. I really have changed a lot! I started looking even cuter than I was before. No longer do I look like a little girl - I look all grown up now, haha. (x3)_

_I can't wait until I'm back in Shinjuku. I miss you so much - I always think about the dates we used to go on and I can't wait until I'm back so that we can do things like that again! Hehe!_

_Can't wait to see ya, love you always,  
Jeri-chan_

I strained to remember. Jeri had moved away about two years ago, but my memory of a digimon named Kitamon was faint. Wait...

Now I remembered. I had gone to Alice and her grandfather, asking if it was possible to get a digimon for Jeri, as a parting gift for her before she left Japan. They were able to temporarily take me to the digital world, but I wasn't allowed to tell the others why or what I had picked up there. I ended up picking a small, peach fuzzball of a digimon named Kitamon for Jeri's gift.

She had been thrilled. Kitamon was cute, and fluffy, and it was like "a teddy bear, but better!", or so she said. She cherished that thing - I guess it was 'cause it was the last thing she had of me before she moved.

Weird, how much I had cared about her back then.

I continued to pick up the scattered objects in my room, thinking about that time. She was right - she really HAD changed. No longer was she the motherly-dressed child. No, she had changed... although she had a semi-schoolgirl look, she pulled it off, with that ribbon in her hair and the rose pin on the white ruffles of her tubetop.

Then something else had caught my eye. It was a postcard, the one that I had never bothered to read. I picked it up, inspecting it. It was a photo of a white, sandy beach, and it said "California" on the bottom in yellow cursive font.

I looked at the back. I saw only a couple, simple words.

_"Be prepared to be suprised this summer."_

That was all. No signature, no nothing. I stared at it.

"Crys..." I whispered. I had no idea that she was going to be here at all. No wonder she had been pretty mad.

I continued gathering my clothes, thinking about the two girls. Jeez, both of them are going to give me a pretty hard time. This was gonna be a -VERY- interesting trip...

* * *

Yeah. And before anybody says anything, Katzeimon/Kitamon (c) me... oh yeah. And the whole thing about getting Kitamon from the digital world... if that kinda sounds like Return of the D-Reaper, I SO didn't mean it xx I've been reading that one recently and... well, yeah. 


	5. Perfect Way to Start a Trip

Hmm... I kinda noticed recently that the reason why I have so many chapters to each fanfic of mine is because I -SUCK- at transitions. XD; So whenever the characters go somewhere else... I mostly just end up ending the chapter.

Sadly, this one has it too. I don't mean to, honest, but... that's just how I keep doing things. xox I'm sorry. I tried my best, though, to put as much as I could without it being too weird.

Anyway! I haven't updated in a while because I've been working on stuff, and I've been quite busy with school and also travelling around a little bit. Not to mention that, if you haven't noticed, most of TDD and TTT are written when "I feel like it". So yeah, please enjoy, since this has been my first chapter in a while.

--

"So, is everybody ready?" Rumiko asked us, adjusting her sunglasses so that they were propped up onto the brim of her sunhat. We all stood outside of the Nonaka residence, and I had just put my red suitcase/Guilmon into Mrs. Nonaka's car. I muttered a small, "Be quiet, Guilmon!" as I shoved him in.

I looked around. Rumiko's lipstick red convertible was filled with our luggage. I stared at it.

"Mrs. Nonaka..." I said, staring at the luggage bags, "How are we going to fit?"

"This is precisely why I decided to take my car, too." Rika's grandmother stepped out of the house, her sunglasses shading her eyes from the blinding sun. She opened the door to her green mini-van. (AN: I know nothing of cars...)

"Good idea." Rika said, climbing in. Henry opened one of the doors and got in too.

I hesitated. I knew that Crystal and Jeri were both behind me, so I wondered what would happen if I was stuck sitting next to one of them, but not the other. I felt both of their glares on me, making four lazer-accurate eyes on me.

Henry saved me. "Hey Crys..." He said, patting the leather seat.

Crystal smiled, getting the message. I saw her steal a wink at Henry as she clambered in like a small puppy. She practically fell out of the car and back on the cement, but luckily Henry grabbed her hand and pulled her in, while I gently nudged her in. I pulled myself in, and felt Jeri's hand brush mine as I had pulled myself in, letting our hands briefly touch.

I felt my face grow slightly red. 'Wait, huh?' I wondered. I quickly looked down, trying not to let Crystal nor Jeri see. I heard slam of the door from Jeri, and started on our trip.

I had thoughts of Jeri's letter in my head, as I tried my best to keep my flushed face at a down low. I felt the road beneath my feet and underneath the car as I continued to look down, trying to make the embarrassed thoughts disappear.

Why was I suddenly thinking about Jeri though? So many thoughts rushed in my head - the letter, how she re-entered my life, how I was ending up on a beach trip with not only her but a trip with - well, my girlfriend?

I heard chatter rise amongst the girls and I continued to sit there with my hair blocking my gaze on the floor. I didn't push it away though; I felt like if I couldn't see the others, they wouldn't see me. I was going ostrich, but honestly it felt like it worked. No wonder those gigantic birds did it so often.

I blocked out their words as I continued to gaze, time quickly passing but my thoughts making it feel like eternity stood as still as a sentry. 'What's wrong with me?' I couldn't help think. I felt trapped for some reason.

I continued to think, my face no longer flushed but my mind in deep thought. I was thinking about all the times we had in the digital world. All those times I had been hoping she'd like me. And after I had finally helped her get over the traumatic experience with the D-Reaper, the problems that we had hit as tamers together, all of it... How I had finally gotten the courage to ask her if she'd be my girlfriend.

But then she left. And I guess I just reached out for Rika - because I had wanted her, as well...

I was becoming confused. 'Think, Takato, think,' I thought to myself. My thoughts were jumbled.

I started replaying the past few years back in my mind. A lot of them were fuzzy at first. I remembered the D-Reaper thread disappearing. I remembered comforting Jeri often. I was being generously nice to her, not only because she was my friend, but because I cared about her. And soon after that, I had asked Jeri to become my girlfriend. But then she had moved... leaving me "single", or as single as I could become with her still thinking we were attached.

And then my crush on Rika. She had been strong. I wanted strength - or rather, needed it. Forever I had been struggling to show people that I had inner strength, and it was hard, because I felt like people kept knocking me down no matter what.

Then Crystal... who wasn't just strong. She was clumsy, dramatic, and a tad weird... but... she was...

What -was- Crystal, anyway?

I remembered everything with sharp images. I remembered how she was nothing but my crush's cousin at first, and I had been afraid to open up to her (AN: This isn't shown that much in TDD, but it is) because I was afraid she would tell Rika. Then she became my teacher, teaching me what she knew, and I got closer to her than the others. She could understand my position - after all, she had felt the same way I had felt towards Rika. And then she became my love interest.

There were a lot of feelings swirling around me at the moment. I felt confused. Nothing felt good at all.

Then I felt the brush of skin against mine. I glanced at my hand. I saw Crystal's tanned, gloved hand on mine, but she had put something in my hand, and I saw her hand move away.

I looked in my hand, and saw an earphone. I glanced at Crystal, and she was looking down as well.

"Just listen," I heard her whisper come out raspily out of her mouth, as if she had been nervous to tell me this.

I slowly put it in my ear, and I started listening, and I could hear her slowly singing along as the beat continued and the melody played.

"Sometimes it stops, sometimes it flows, but baby, that is how love goes... You will fly and you will crawl, but God knows that even angels fall, no such thing as you 'lost it all', God knows even angels fall..."

That one line seemed to echo in my head as I listened to the rest of the song playing in my ear, and the words flowing out of her mouth in that voice of hers.

I felt like I was crawling on all fours, I could barely "walk". All these feelings were hurting me. A lot. I was confused... in a major way.

I looked at Crystal, and our eyes met. She sneaked a small smile at me, and I smiled back, but with uncertainty. I didn't know how I felt anymore... I just hoped everything would sort itself out.

"Everything'll work out," I heard her whisper, and I nodded, although I still carried uncertainty in my head, as the green convertible turned and the sun blazed down inside the windows, and the ocean reflected light off its glassy surface, shining in a friendly way. Sand stretched far and wide against the side of the road.

We finally reached the beach house some few hours later, all the while going past several boardwalks and piers, as well as beach towns and the latter. I was able to shake off most of the uncertainty, although I still felt somewhat uncomfortable.

"We're here!" Jeri said happily as she burst out of the car. She turned around and looked at me, and I shyly smiled at her as I got out of the car myself.

"AAAHHHH!" I heard behind me, as Crystal came crashing down on me, my face hitting the sand.

"SORRY!" Crystal exclaimed, hurridly getting off of me and looking at me, hoping she hadn't hurt me very badly. I managed to brush the sand off of my face.

Great. What a wonderful way to start my trip...

--

Hmm... not bad, I guess. blinks I'll leave you at this. But I'd like to write a bit of a sidenote first.

If you don't remember, I had a bunch of feelings towards my boyfriend while I was writing Tamers Don't Dance. By the time I finished Tamers Don't Dance, my relationship with him was dead. And now... I'm feeling the feelings that Takato has towards both girls, except there -is- no other girl. I am here on my own, unlike Takato. So if someone is going to tell me that the feelings that Takato has are a bit unrealistic, well just letting you know - they are realistic... when you're in this kind of situation you feel this way. It's HARD to get over someone, as I'm learning. Feelings are easily rekindled by material possessions, actually they're easily rekindled by anything and it hurts, 'cause you have to let go.

Just letting you know, this is what's in my mind, and these two fics - Tamers Don't Dance and Three to Tango - are both my feelings poured into a situation that Takato is in. It just happens to be me that's writing. 


	6. A Good Morning to You Too

Wow, this chapter is LONG. I didn't expect it to be.

Anyway, enjoy this chapter... If you've read the novel Flabbergasted, it may sound a little like it, but hopefully it doesn't (I've been reading that a lot recently). I find it scary that the fics both have similar beach trips.

Setting might be a bit weird... and if you still don't really know what Crystal looks like (oo; Which is interesting, because I've done a good bit of detail on her outfit most of the time), then look at my deviantart, and try and look for pictures there. Setting should be explained a little bit more here.

--

"Man..."

I gave a heavy, deep sigh and felt the blankets and sheets underneath my back as I fell against the bed.

It was evening when we got there, and I had felt a -tad- too tired. Emotionally and physically - carrying my "suitcase", or rather Guilmon himself was rather hard. I felt my hair somewhat fall against the blankets, and I gave out a tired sigh.

"Giru? Takato, what are you doing?"

A red muzzle nudged my side, and I glanced into a pair of yellow eyes. I saw Guilmon tilt his head to the side, blinked, and continued to stare.

I felt sore. I had been so tired that the most I could do was trudge into my room, and tear the clasps of the suitcase open for Guilmon.

"I'm tired, Giru," I muttered, using his nickname for him. Crystal and Jeri, with their nicknames for all the digimon, had rubbed off a bit. Guilmon's nicknames were Guilleh (suggested by Jeri) and Giru (from Crystal). The nickname Giru was a bit obvious (AN: In the Japanese series, Guilmon often says "giru" a lot. Calumon also says "curu", but then again he isn't in this story...). "I want to sleep. Let me, please?"

"No play, Giru?"

"Too tired."

"Tommorrow?"

"Maybe."

"Awww," I heard a small sigh emit from Guilmon, and a little puff of breath hit my leg. Out of the corner of my eye I saw his ears droop a bit, and his head rest there.

I pulled off my goggles as I looked up at the ceiling and closed my eyes, holding the strap in my hand and letting my hand hit the mattress.

I must've drifted off because I felt something warm against my hand instead of the cool edge of my goggles. I slowly opened my eyes and I could see a hand in mine. A black gloved hand.

I looked up. I faced a back. Long black hair drifted down in layers.

I let my fingers lace around Crystal's hand, and I saw her turn to me. She briefly let go of my hand to sit on her knees ontop of the bed.

She smiled at me, as she sat next to my laying body.

"Nice nap?"

"Quite long. Didn't realise it was morning."

"Afternoon."

"Wow."

"You must've been tired, I'm guessing."

"Yeah..." I propped myself up on the bed. "I was really exhausted when we got here and I ended up just falling asleep."

I looked around the room. Crystal was right. I saw a faint yellow glowing in the room pouring in from the windows. I didn't see a Guilmon insight, though.

"You should change into something lighter," Crystal said, as she held the blue sleeve of my hooded shirt. "Your shirt seems a bit thick, and it's pretty hot."

I looked at her, and I noticed she had changed her top to a tight black tanktop that showed her midriff. I also noticed that it was quite low on her, and I blushed at the thought. I looked away, to hide my embarrassment.

"I probably will, in a sec."

"All right," Crystal said, standing up. She walked over to the doorway, and I watched as her loose black leather belt - as always, only strewn through two of the side belt loops - hit her hip as she walked, the silver buckle shining. Instead of her usual jeans though, she wore a jean skirt. I also noticed a two small, loose, light blue straps on her shoulders. Half of me wanted to ask if it was a bathing suit. The other half wanted to stay quiet, incase it was... well, something else. I decided to go with the other half.

Crys leaned against the door. "Oh, and Takato?"

"Yeah?" I sat crosslegged now on the bed.

"I'll be in the kitchen. Everybody else is up."

I watched her walk out of the room, and I found myself with my mouth open. I blushed and started looking for some more casual clothes.

I ended up just taking my sweater shirt off, wearing only my white undershirt and a pair of blue swimtrunks. I decided to string my goggles around my neck, and throw on some sandals as well, then made my way out into the hall.

I saw everybody just sprawling around. Rika was wearing a dark blue tanktop, tied at the shoulders, with an ice-blue fragmented heart (AN: Similar to the Whatever Blooheart top on Gaia) as well as some jean shorts, flipping through her digimon cards out of boredom. Henry sat next to her, in a similar outfit to mine - a black shirt and green shorts. It seemed like we were always dressing similar lately. He was busy trying to maintain Terriermon from moving around and climbing on him.

Crystal was nowhere in sight even though she had said she'd be there, but I saw Jeri stroll in from what I believed to be her room, in a red strapless bikini top and a pair of incredibly baggy jeans, 15 sizes too big. Her belt barely even helped it stay attatched to her waist. I didn't know which one to gawk about - the strapless bikini top, or the gimongous (AN: Giant + humongous gimongous) pants.

Both, I agreed on.

That's when I noticed a little sunset-colored cat giggling at me from behind Jeri's leg. I blinked, and it giggled even harder. I half expected it to fall over and start rolling around, laughing uncontrollably. (AN: A literal ROFL... And wow, I used an acronym like THAT!I never use any acronym similar to "lol" or "rofl" and etc... very rare.)

Henry looked up at me. "So -that's- why you're always late to school. Jeez, how much sleep do you need?"

"Quite a lot," I responded, slightly embarrased while going over to the fridge. I pulled out a carton of juice. "So are we planning to go anywhere?"

"Well, we were kinda talking about going to the boardwalk," Rika said, putting her deck of cards on the table.

"But then I kinda suggested that we could take the digimon there, since most of our digimon we can take as 'stuffed animals'," Jeri continued on, picking up her still-cackling kitty. I guessed that she was Katzeimon.

"What about Guilmon?" I asked, staring at the cat. It was finally coming to its senses, although still giggling a bit. Katzeimon covered her mouth with her paw, her golden eyes still laughing. But as soon as I had poured myself a glass, it started up again.

"Cuz said she'd take care of that, somehow." Rika responded. "Said she had a REALLY great card. Which is funny, because I don't remember the last time I saw her know the difference between a good card in the Digi-card game, and a credit card."

"And that's why Rika's been searching through her deck," Henry explained, and on cue, his girlfriend picked up the pile of cards again, sorting. "She wondered if there was really a card that was that good that she hadn't heard about."

"I still don't get it," I heard Rika mumbled. I let out a small chuckle, and Jeri continued the story for the frustrated Digi-queen.

"Anyway, she said she'd take care of that, which is why we started looking for Guilmon... but no such luck. So we decided to wait for you to wake up, since you know him best and all."

"Heh, go figure that Guilmon went off on his own..." I muttered, and I made my way to the door, Jeri following with Katzeimon in her arms. As our beach house stood right infront of the beach, I stood there for a moment, mystified after I had opened the door.

I blinked, taking in the view infront of me. I suppose it was because we had arrived at evening, and all was pretty dark, but the view was great. Stretches of sand lay infront of me, and the ocean was huge.

I looked around, and I heard the familiar "Myaaah!" from Guilmon's muzzle. My eyes darted, knowing he was around... but where?

"You have any clue where he is, Taka-kun?" Jeri said, looking at me with worried eyes. Katzeimon leaped from Jeri's arms and started to look around.

"Giru giru giru..." Katzeimon mumbled, looking around for a trace of the red dragon. I wondered if Katzeimon already knew what Guilmon looked like or not, but I shrugged and continued looking myself. Even if she didn't know, she seemed to do a pretty good impression of him, as she snuffed around for his scent, muttering "giru" under her breath.

"There," I said, pointing to a red dot in the water. I ran onto the beach. Grains of sand inched their way up my legs as I trudged through as fast as I could, and suddenly I could see two more dots in the water. Then I heard a scream, and as I made my way in the ocean spay, throwing my shirt onto the beach as the cool water licked my ankles, I could see something fretting about.

"WHY IN THE WORLD DID YOU TAKE ME INTO THE WATER!" I heard, and then as I got close, I saw Giru with Puppi on his nose, and Crystal laughing in a light blue bikini.

So -that's- what she had been wearing.

Puppishumon was screaming, and Crystal gently picked her up, and placed the terrified blue puppy onto her head, although Crystal wasn't very tall to begin with, so it made very little difference.

"I can't BELIEVE you! I know you know that I'm TERRIFIED of this, this, this... this..."

"Water, Puppi."

"THIS TERRIFYING BLUE LIQUID OF HORRORS."

I laughed, and Crystal looked at me, her massive black-framed sunglasses hanging from her mouth, held inbetween her teeth. The blue lenses were blinding, and she ended up hooking them onto the middle of her bikini top so she would be able to talk.

"Umm... I guess a 'hi' wouldn't really explain this," Crystal said in a slight chuckle.

"Definately not." I looked at Guilmon, then at Crystal, then at Jeri, who had slid her gigantic jeans off and joined us in the water, in her strapless red bikini.

Girls. Girls and bikinis. Girls.

Gah. I had no idea where to look.

"So what went on here?" I said, concentrating my eyes on Puppi, who was holding onto Crystal's head as if the tide were up to our eyes, instead of at our waist. "A bit confusing."

"Well, I saw Puppi napping, and I know she's afraid of water--"

"SEE! SHE ADMITS IT AND YET SHE TORTURES ME." Puppishumon continued to grip onto Crystal's head, mussing up her tamer's hair.

Crystal continued, ignoring her digimon. "And so I couldn't help but lift her up and take her down to the beach. So then I spotted Guilmon in the water and so I went over to him, 'cause I wanted to ask what he was doing out here. And then you see the situation infront of you."

"See, I could -never- really have much of a relationship if Katzei and I were fighting like that," Jeri said, pushing her hair back away from her face.

"Puppi and I have a very... odd relationship," Crystal explained. "Kind of like... an older sister tortured by her younger sister."

"And which one are you?" I asked, slightly bemused about the situation.

"...I think the roles kind of switch off, at times." Crystal said with a shrug.

We started making our way back, and I walked next to Guilmon, asking him why he had gone out in the ocean.

"Felt like it, giru!" He responded, with a grin. I smiled, and patted him on the head like a puppy, and I could see his tail swish through the water as we walked.

As we approached the beach, I saw Katzeimon sun-bathing in the sun on a rock, waiting for us. Her ears were drooped and she looked content. Her golden tailring and bracelets on her front legs glistened in the sun, and I could see the rubies on the golden jewlery shining as well. As we approached, us sloshing through the water, I saw one of her golden eyes slowly open, and hear ears perk up, kind of like Guilmon when he sees me. When we got on the beach, she leaped off and ran up to join us.

Oddly enough, she didn't pounce on Jeri. Instead, she ended up pouncing on Guilmon.

How come I expected that?

"GUILLEH!" Katzeimon tackled Guilmon to the ground, sand spraying everywhere. Guilmon's head ended up landing near my feet. For such a small cat, she sure could topple Giru down quick.

Wow, this sure felt familiar.

"Who's this, Takato?" Guilmon looked up at me, with a startled voice.

"I'm Katzeimon!" She said, nuzzling him. I heard a small growl, and I turned. Both Crys and I looked suprised as we looked at Puppi, who was sitting down on the groupd next to her tamer. She glared at Katzeimon, and a small "hmph" escaped from her mouth, as she turned to look away, curling her tail around her.

"Something wrong?" Katzeimon challenged, as Guilmon got off and she slid off of his white muscular chest. "You don't like me being around Guilmon?"

"No," Puppi muttered under her breath. She flicked the end of her tail slightly, her eyes narrowing a bit. I could tell she was really bothered though.

"Good." Katzei smiled, her canines showing. "Then that means that you won't be bothered if I do anything, right?" As she spoke, she went over and gave the red dinosaur a small kiss on the muzzle.

I saw Puppi's face turn red, and she ended up going walking over to where Guilmon sat, and tugged on Guilmon's arm. "No, but you don't need this, do you?"

Katzeimon tugged on his other arm. "Well, yeah, I do. Have a problem with it?"

"Cat fight!" I heard Terriermon's voice, and I saw Rika and Henry exit the house, walking next to each other, hand in hand. Henry grinned at me, and Rika just gave me a small smile. Terriermon sat perched on Henry's head, and Renamon stood behind the both of them.

"It's not really a cat fight, if you think about it," Renamon said, crossing her arms.

"Cat fight, dog fight, cat-dog fight." Terriermon said in a small pouting voice. "Whatever! Mouhmantai!"

I reverted my eyes back to Katzei and Puppi, and they continued to pull on Guilmon's legs. My digimon looked at me with confused eyes. Although they could not lift him off the ground because he was massive as appose to their sizes, the two female digimon still continued to tug at Guilmon's arms.

I smiled. Like tamer, like digimon.

Well, then again, the digimon were more immature.

"Boardwalk, anyone?" Henry asked, reminding us of our original plans for the day.

"We've been waiting for a while, so you guys better be ready," Rika retorted. She had grown a bit impatient, as I noticed.

I looked over at the others. Jeri nodded, putting her belt back on. I guess Crystal had dashed into the house while the argument with the digimon went on, because she had her old outfit back on, and she nodded as well, scooping up Puppi into her arms, to stop her digimon from tearing Guilmon's arms off.

"Yeah, we're ready. Let's go!"

--

Yeah, it's long. I know. It was gonna be longer oO; And that's pretty much why it took so long to publish.

Next chapter hopefully won't take as long.

If anyone could help me, I'm having issues downloading Digimon season 1... I wanted to watch it, 'cause technically that's the only season I've seen (-Please- don't shout at me that I missed a really good season, I know it already!) but I'm having issues downloading it. I use Bittorrent to download all my Digimon episodes, and I went to this one site, downloaded it from the group who fansubbed Digimon Tamers, and tried downloading it, but I had some problems, and every time Bittorrent would stop working after that, and I'd have to restart to get it to work again.

Anyone have any advice, or anything? Please contact me if you do o-O;;; 


	7. A Competition of Dance

Well, lately I've been getting a bunch of reviews, and I just wanted to say thanks a bunch!

On another note, I want to make some AMVs, but I don't have anything to use. For some reason Windows Movie Maker does NOT like me.

--

We began walking, Jeri and Crystal on my right and Henry and Rika on my right. We were just about to leave when I felt a slight tug on the edge of my shirt. I turned and I saw Guilmon's big golden eyes looking at me with a sad look.

"Me no go, giru?"

"Oh yeah!" Crystal remembered, hitting herself on the forhead in lack of rememberance. She quickly pulled a card out of her pocket. "I'm sorry I forgot to give this to ya earlier, I kinda forgot."

She handed it to me, and I looked at it, reading the small print. "Downgrade", it said.

"Go on, slash it."

I quickly slashed it, and with a small burst of light, Guilmon quickly turned into Gigimon. He fell onto my feet, looking up at me.

"Oh, so THAT was your oh-so-amazing card," Rika muttered. She crossed her arms, and I could tell she was trying to pretend she had thought of using that card before. She stopped talking, due to embarrassment.

Crystal gave out a laugh, and offered the card to her cousin. Rika stared at her hand, as if being handed a poison apple, then reluctantly, she quickly slashed the card, turning Renamon into Viximon. Rika quickly passed the card back, so she could pick up her digimon.

"So are we ready to go, Digimon and all?" Henry asked. We all nodded, and we made our way towards the boardwalk.

I was kind of suprised to figure out that the boardwalk is actually made out of boards, but Crystal told me that the only place around here that was made out of boards other than the houses was the pier. I felt kind of embarrassed about it, but then again, when the only two places you recall ever going to is Shinjuku and Okinawa, and the Digital world if you count that...

We walked along the sidewalk, past several beach shops, and we laughed as Crystal told us a story about how she came to Japan and wondered if it would be really different from California (AN: This is where she came from, I have no idea if this was implied anywhere else other than Summer of Suprise - which by the way MAY get a rewrite soon! That is if I can remember the original plot again... - but yeah, I'm sorry if it wasn't written anywhere else) but was relieved when she found out there was a McDonalds in the airport, and how she knew it wouldn't be that bad as long as she knew that McDonalds didn't serve onigiri.

We passed a lot of shops, ducked in a few. Nothing really caught our attention, being mostly tourist gift and T-shirt shops, so we decided to head for the pier instead.

We walked along, and at first I just thought it was just a long stretch of wood across the water, until a few small shops appeared, then a resturant, and then some booths, for playing carnival games. The more we advanced across the pier, the more things that we saw and appeared infront of us.

Suddenly, as I was staring at some of the carnival game booths, I was hit in the face with something, and a large mass of pink attatched itself to my face. I struggled to get it off, but the wind continued to push it against my face, smothering me.

Luckily, Henry pulled it off for me after the wind died down. Crystal snatched at it, curious.

Jeri and Crystal huddled around the paper, and they both wore grins on their faces. I looked at them with wondering faces, and they grinned at me and the others, and Jeri practically screeched out her excitement.

"THERE'S A DANCE COMPETITION ON THE END OF THE PIER!"

She practically dashed off on her own and left us in the dust, if not for us instinctively following her. She was excited, I could tell. I hadn't seen Jeri so active about something - well, that is, until she saw me for the first time after so long, but still.

We ran, and we found ourselves standing infront of a crowd. Jeri had disappeared somewhere within it. I heard an announcer talking on a mega phone, being almost as energetic as Jeri - if we could find her. He was bouncing around on the wooden planks as his stage, enthusiastically telling about the details of the contest.

After searching through the crowd, I found her - standing next to the announcer.

"And who might your name be?" He asked into the mega phone towards the audience, but his eyes on Jeri. He blinked in suprise, wondering why she was standing up there next to him, midway within his energetic speech.

"My name's Jeri Katou! And I'd love to join your contest!" Jeri jumped into the air with excitement, her feet lifting off the ground and almost jolting Katzeimon, who was still held in her arms' grasp.

"Haha, a contestant! That's wonderful! Well like I was saying, the contest starts in three days, and you may even go up against this girl in a dancing battle unlike any other!"

The audience applauded eagerly, and the announcer continued on, with much gusto. I looked around and motioned for Henry and Rika, but I had no idea where Crystal was. Suddenly I found her standing next to Jeri, and the announcer, suprised once again that a second girl was up there.

"Umm, and what is your name, miss?" The announcer asked, slightly bothered that his speech was interrupted once again.

"Crystal Starr," Crys said (AN: Yes, that is her real name, just like my username), in a somewhat quiet voice. She stood up straight, closed her eyes, and seemed to reassure herself as she burst out in a loud voice. "And I'm going to join this contest too!"

"Umm... well, uh, that's great!" The announcer scratched his head, flustered from the improptu ad-libbing. The audience applauded again, with just as much energy.

"Anyway, since my speech is pretty much over..." I heard him mutter something about how he didn't want his speech ruined again, and he continued on. "Well, why not see how well these lovely ladies can tango!"

The audience cheered, and Rika and Henry finally made their way towards me, and they were clapping as well.

Jeri smiled, now growing a little shy, and then she looked at me. I grinned ath er, and then suddenly she grinned and got her energetic self back.

"If you don't mind, may I go first?" She asked, flipping her auburn hair back away from her face. The announcer nodded, and Jeri quickly told the DJ standing by the song she wanted, and took center stage.

Suddenly, with an odd harmony of sounds and a drum beat, the song began, and Jeri started to sing as she started to dance, and I could hear some of her words as she did something similar to a pirouette and a curtsy and a dropkick at the same time.

"I wear a disguise, I'm just your average Jane, the super doesn't stand for model but that doesn't mean I'm plain... If all you see is how I look, you miss the superchick within!"

I saw her grin at me as she continued her dance, doing a mixture of hiphop and trance and I don't know what else exactly. She had stopped singing to concentrate on her song. Often she looked at me, smiling while she spun around in circles, on one turn of her foot, she faced me and blew me a kiss. I blushed intensely, as she attempted to somewhat fall to the floor as "One Girl Revolution" (AN: By Superchick - I've been watching quite a few AMVs lately...) continued playing, the beat slowing and her spinning her legs around while holding poised.

As the guitar chords slowed, and so did the song, Jeri ended in a heroic pose, one leg keeping her balanced on the ground, the other held up right against her thigh, and her arm in a "HYAH!" kind of way. The audience applauded loudly, and so did I - it was really a great performance. She curtsied - well, as much as she could in pants - and grinned, looking up at everyone, and locked eyes with me, proud of herself.

Meanwhile, as Jeri left the "stage", Crystal had been preparing her dance, and was leaving the DJ's table. Beats of a song rose up again, and the audience cheered, happy that they would be seeing another dance.

Crystal positioned herself, doing a quick curtsy, and as the song started, she did a quick spin, and started to dance, practically jumping around in circles. She didn't really look like she was dancing, but she was clapping, and she was trying to get everybody to clap the beat. Obidiently, we did, and that small part of the pier started to bounce with energy, as she continued to spin and dance.

The words were foreign to my Japanese ears, not even English. But it was energy, LOUD energy. Almost vibrant. As the first verse of the song started, Crystal mimicked a small boy pretending to be an airplane, taking to center stage, and then, being serious, started her performance.

Because honestly, that was the only thing you could call it. A performance.

It was ballet. It was ballroom. It was -something-, if not energetic and awesome.

Crystal did everything that could possibly boggle the mind with dance moves, and somehow put it together. The Can-Can. The Charleston. She touched the floor, she touched the sky, she flew around, she did a jig. She did the disco, the electric slide, and some things she had never even taught me before.

She even did the Numa Numa.

Which I guess was appropriate, since it -was- Dragostea din Tei by O-zone, one of the songs that she had taught me with, and told me about all the crazy fandom.

But she did it all, putting it together in some weird way, doing odd things, but she looked like she was having fun. She had energy in it all, and it all just fit together.

She left the stage in an unbeatable, awed performance. The whole audience applauded with fury.

On our way back to the beach house, we all complimented her, if not just staring at her in awe, like I was. My dance teacher was incredibly unpredictable.

--

Cutting it short... 'cause it seems a bit long. XD;

Yeah... I listen to O-zone a tad too much.

The songs in this chapter belong to those who own 'em, which is stated in there, so yeah. 


	8. The Challenge

Once again, thank you for the wonderful reviews. It's really awesome that I have almost as many reviews as I have chapters.

I find it ironic that I'm living this story out as I write it. Except, instead of "winning" the competition, I'm losing.

Arrrgg... I'm really frustrated on how OOC Jeri is.

--

We all ended up crashing by the time we got back to the beach house, since we got pretty tired. I wanted to fall asleep on my bed as soon as we got back, but I ended up being pretty thirsty, so I got up and went to the kitchen.

As I poured myself a drink, I saw Rika walk past me, holding her pillow in one hand and untying her ponytail in the other. I looked at her with a bit of curiousity, and after she left, I asked Henry, who had also been watching this.

"Whaddya think's going on?"

"I think they're having an all-girls slumber party or something in Jeri's room. Not sure though..."

I gulped down my drink, and Henry and I both made our way to the girl's room.

The door was opened at a small crack, and Henry and I sat crouched in the dark hallway, and heard giggling. I peered in, and I saw Jeri and Crystal sitting on the bed, and Rika sitting on her pillow on a sleeping bag.

They were giggling, and Henry and I continued to peer in, I stood squatting against the floor and Henry stood above me.

"So you two are really gonna join the the dance competition?" Rika asked, holding her legs against her chest, and her arms wrapped around them, holding her toes with her fingers.

"Yeah, well, at least I am." Jeri smiled proudly.

"So am I," Crystal nodded, then looked back at her cousin. "You sure you don't wanna join?"

"Yeah, I'm not much into dancing, cuz," Rika responded, with a somewhat sad voice, but she was smiling.

Crystal agreed, "Yeah, you're better at singing, much better'n me at least."

"Rika sings well, I'm guessing?" Jeri asked. "When I threw her that birthday party, I never got to hear her." (AN: Reference to Runaway Digimon Express - Jeri held a party for Rika's birthday and Rika sang in the movie. BTW, did anyone notice how yummy Rika's cake looked? It looked really yummeh. i-i)

"Yeah, she does. She's really good at it!" Crystal said, holding her arm up in enthusiasm.

Her cousin blushed. "Do not."

"Do too! My dancing is practically as good as her singing. Well, actually, maybe my dancing is better..." Crystal teased, and she ended up getting hit in the arm. Crys rubbed her sore spot with her gloved-hand, and Rika laughed.

"Oooh, Crys-chan..." Jeri tugged on Crystal's skirt slightly. "Do you want to make this competition a little bit more... interesting?"

Crystal blinked, staring at the auburn-haired girl's eyes. "Interesting...?"

Jeri smiled, and she had a mischevious glint in her eye. "If I win, I want to be able to go on a date with Takato-kun."

Crystal's eyes grew wide, and at the same time, so did I. A date? With Jeri?

Rika spoke up. "But those two are together. Is it fair to do that? The whole date situation and all?"

"It's one date, Rika-chan. It honestly shouldn't do that much harm... unless their relationship is that fragile?"

I saw Crystal's face turn red, and I continued to watch. I felt afraid to step in and stand up for myself, but I felt that would be wrong. First off, I wasn't really supposed to be listening to begin with, but my girlfriend looked like she had a mix of emotions on her mind. I looked up at Henry, and he had a blank face, unknowing of what to do.

Finally, Crystal swallowed her pride and spoke. "Okay, but if I win... you have to promise to leave Takato alone."

Jeri smiled. "It's a deal. Besides, that makes a good bit of sense."

"Funny, how that's coming from your mouth."

"Look... I know we have this going on, but otherwise can we have a bit of a truce? I know that you dislike me, and it's not right for you to, just because the only reason you do is because I used to date Takato. Besides, if the boys find out, they'll be suspicious."

Suspicious? More like afraid on the result of this little "contest".

Crystal shook Jeri's hand. "All right. Besides, I'd like to know what kind of person you are, since part of you seems... similar to me."

I dreaded the thoughts that popped into my head. What happened if Crystal lost? What happened if Jeri lost? I felt confused. Would my relationship with my girlfriend from America ride on this? Crystal continued to stay quiet, and I looked at her, her silvery-gray eyes, and mine with my magenta, and I stood there in the hallway at about 11 at night worrying about what the future held.

--

Umm... yeah. Short, to the point, yeah. Still bothered by the slight OOC ness. x-x

If you're wondering what I meant before about the whole "loosing the competition" thing... Me and my boyfriend were only on a break... one of those temporary, no-one-thinks-they-work kind of ones. And although I practically always thought we were going to be back together, I found out that this time it wasn't the case - my boyfriend, I should say ex now, has a crush on another girl. Now it's his choice to figure out which one he wants. And I'm probably going to lose.

Eeh... let's just say the rest of TTT will be similar to my situation. 


	9. Dancing with Two

Woo! Lots of fun stuff has been happening to me lately n-n No more finals for me! No more school! Nya nya nyah! xD!

Although the initial "TTT meets CLS's real life!" thing has stopped, I am trying my best to work on this ficceh, and get it done, although honestly it's a tad hard without personal experience (The real life ordeal wasn't really completed, more like put on pause). oo; But yeah. For those who were really wondering, this -did- kind of happen to me, but with added fictional events.

This fic is getting long, I noticed, but so are some things in life. Anyway, hope you enjoy the chapter! I love your guys' reviews, so yeah n-n

--

The last week had been pretty hectic around the beach house. I had gotten a slight case of the stomach flu (Henry is suspicious of the fish now), and wasn't able to go down to the boardwalk to watch Jeri's and Crystal's performance but I had heard it was just as awesome as the performances they gave at the boardwalk. They both enthusiastically came into my room, telling me both with energy how it had gone, and how excited they were about the next round.

Oddly enough, they did this with no fights at all. I wondered if this was because of the truce, or if they had gotten any closer from the contest.

I predicted the first, doubted the second.

The two had become incredibly busy, working together for the dance competition. Although they were competitors - not to mention rivals - the two of them didn't seem to mind helping one another out with their moves. I often saw them through the glass pane of the window near my bed as they glided across the beach, small grains of sand flying about as they moved in their swift ways.

When my stomach flu started to let up, I was able to start walking around again - that is, without wanting to keel over and collapse somewhere. I walked around mildly, just looking around out of curiousity. I didn't wander too far away from the house in fear of my stomach hurting again, so I kept by to the inside of the house.

I felt sluggish as I travelled along the halls of the house that morning. Not a soul seemed to appear. Not even Guilmon - for he was outside with Katzei and Puppi, I knew. I had glanced out the window and saw them once again at their game of tug-of-war. I groaned from the extreme boredom.

Suddenly, a head popped out from one of the rooms. "'Alo?" Crys asked, leaning backwards, her back curved and poised.

I stared at Crystal, walking up closer to her. Once again, she was in her leather shirt-and-gloves look, apparently not caring much for the heat today. She was bent backwards, quite literally, one foot on the floor and the other against her thigh, as she tried her best to bring herself back to a standing position. But she faltered, and started to fall back and was about to hit the hardwood floor if I hadn't extended my arms out and caught her.

Crystal looked up at me, her big silvery eyes looking directly into mine. She turned pink, then red, her mouth sheepishly grinning, and she giggled slightly, trying to jarr the embarrassment. "Umm, thanks for not letting me fall."

"No problem." I helped her up onto her feet, and she stood. "What're you doing?"

"Practicing balance... Jeri said I need help with that, badly."

"Jeri told you that?" I asked, blinking in suprise. I hadn't expected that, even -if- they had a "fake" truce.

"Yeah!" Crys grinned at me, and I continued to have a look of inexpectedness, either that or suspiciousness, because Crystal then asked me, "Something wrong?"

"Nah..." I said, trying my best not to give away the fact that I knew that they thought I didn't know that they had a truce.

Crystal peered at me with an odd look, but shrugged and started to stretch again. I watched her, sitting down on the bed, and we sat in silence, until Crys spoke up.

"Umm... listen, Takato?"

"Yeah?"

"Uhhh... nevermind."

"You sure?"

"Yeah." Crys got up, stretching her arms slightly, and then looked at me. "Are you okay enough to go outside? Or you still sick?"

I considered it, and shrugged. "Yeah, I think I'll be fine."

Crystal smiled at me, and started to walk towards the door. I followed her, and she lead me out to the beach, where Jeri was doing dance procedures as well - she was holding herself on one foot, twirling herself about, doing a pirouette.

I sat down on the warm sand, watching Jeri's practice, and Crystal joined me on the beach, sitting right next to me. I looked over at her, the long black strands of hair framing her face. She seemed in awe of Jeri, in a way - her silver eyes watched the brunette's every move. It made me wonder if they really did have more in common than I thought, well, minus the fact that they both wanted me for themselves, and they both danced to compete for me.

When Jeri finally tuckered herself out, she joined me on my other side, with a grin. "Feeling better?"

I nodded. Jeri smiled, and I felt a small smile on my face, too. Something about Jeri made me smile, but right then I tried my best to shake it off, with Crystal sitting beside me.

"So, are you two getting ready for the next round?"

"Yeah," Crys said, and I looked at her as she leaned back against the sand. The sand molded and accented her body, the grains pressing against her leather clothing. "It should be..."

"Interesting?" Jeri volunteered, as Crystal strained for the words. Crys nodded, and her hair seemed to seep into the sand. She closed her eyes in a relaxed way.

I turned back to Jeri. "So what's the second round call for?"

Jeri looked over at Crystal, and I saw them exchange glances. "Crys, should I?"

Crys shook her head. "Takato, we... uhm, we can't really tell you right now."

"Why?" I blinked at the two of them. I wondered what in the world they meant. I shrugged, and I got up, wanting to return to my room.

As I flopped onto my bed, blankets flying up around me, Henry came in. "Hey, what's up?" He asked, making his way over to the bed, and sitting down on the edge as the bed finally stopped shaking.

"Eeh, not much..." I sat up, crosslegged. "Do you know what's up with the girls?"

"The girls?" Henry looked at me, with an odd look.

"Jeri and Crystal..."

"Oh," Henry sighed a little. "They're still after you, huh? With the whole competition thing?"

"Yeah. What's up with them, though, and not wanting to tell me about the second round?"

"Takato..." Henry looked at me, sounding like an old man with his exasperated sigh.

"Just tell me," I said, laying back on my bed. "I know you're gonna go all, 'Takato, I don't know if you wanna hear it', but just tell me anyway."

"... Ya sure?"

"Totally sure."

Henry sighed, and started his explanation. "The first round of the contest was them demonstrating a three minute sample of their usual movements, remember that?"

"Yeah, I remember. Same as the boardwalk, pretty much."

"They were awarded by points, in the actual contest."

"I heard all that, before. What does this have anything to do with how they're acting now?" I propped myself up against my bed with my elbow, so I lay at an angle from Henry.

"When they passed the first round, they were told the second round..."

"And?"

"The second round entails a much more different dance... It's a partner dance. Two-person. And... guess who they both wanted to ask."

My eyes grew wide. I knew the answer. The one they were both competing for.

"Crystal and Jeri talked about asking you - they both really wanted to, of course - but they wanted to check with the judges, and you, first."

"Check? With me?"

"Check if you actually wanted to dance with both of them."

"Oh." I sat up crosslegged again, to be at eye level with Henry.

"Rika told the two just now that they're allowed to dance with the same person, they won't be eliminated. But of course... they don't know that you know this, as well as their little 'competition', so... I guess you gotta pretend to be suprised when they ask you."

Henry stood up and left my room. I continued to sit there, with my legs crossed.

"'Pretend to be suprised,'" I muttered to myself. "I don't think I -need- to pretend."

--

Yeah, I -so- haven't updated for a while. And this chapter's short... I'm not one for long chapters anymore. oO I keep rereading this and Takato sounds so OOC... bleh. Anyway, enjoy, I suppose. 


	10. Potholes Without the Road

I find it ironic the day I say that the whole TTT meets my life thing has stopped, it starts again. Ugh.

Anyway. To make a long story short, my life is a twisted, twisted thing. But it makes for good fanfics.

This chapter is a mix of so many things right now - several memories, some actual happenings, and a lot of thoughts that I've had about my life turning into my fanfic. I really hope you like it - 'cause I guess I'm suffering for your pleasure. XD

(I'm kidding, of course, if you thought I was serious about the suffering part. Although my life really IS twisted, and often turns into my fanfics whenever I write 'em. It's very scary.)

--

I sat on my bed for a long time after Henry had gone in my room, contemplating to myself. It was just weird. Why did my life fall together like this, the way it did, the it was now?

It was just too weird.

I sat up, and Jeri entered my room as I did. I ran my fingers through my hair, and she smiled.

"Umm, what's up Jeri?" I asked her. I felt slightly nervous, for some reason. It felt so odd.

Was I... regaining my feelings for her?

I tried to shake the feeling away, but could not as she smiled at me, grinned at me. I felt myself melt inside. Feelings were rekindling, and I couldn't help but wonder if it was accident or what.

"You okay?" she asked me, tilting her head to the side. Her brown eyes stared into mine, and I felt like I was going to fall into them. I grabbed the blanket around me, in nervousness.

"Uhm, I'm okay."

"Ya sure? I mean, I feel kinda bad... 'cause of that whole second round thing, and not letting you know."

"It's all right."

Jeri edged closer to me, leaning forward, studying me with her eyes. I felt nervous, my palms grew moist. She was so close - our noses almost touched, our lips were inches apart. I managed to take the smallest of breaths, my heart beating hard.

Suddenly, she laughed, and leaned back. I still felt as nervous as before, but she seemed laid back, still giggling. Finally she stopped, and opened her mouth to speak.

"Takato... listen. The second round... uhm, we kind of have to do this thing where we partner up... and we have to dance together. With someone outside of the contest. It's to show compatibility. I think.

Anyway, uhm. I was wondering if you... uhmm... uh..."

I glanced at Jeri, and suddenly, I saw the old Jeri. The one who was often somewhat nervous. Scared, if you may. She had gained courage through Leomon; that was his gift to her. And maybe that's why she dramatically changed after she left. Maybe she felt like the old Jeri, and she felt like that wasn't right. The old Jeri sat there, trembling a little with nervousness, even though she looked like the new one, wanted to act like the new one, but couldn't. I got over my nervousness, just for the time being, and I put my hand over hers.

"And, Jeri-chan?"

Jeri looked at me, suprised that I had used her nickname. She glanced at our hands, and then looked back at me. She gained a bit of confidence, and managed to spurt out the last part.

"I was wondering if you'd be my dance partner."

"Well..."

As I spoke, it hit me. Out of nowhere.

They were doing this to see whom I'd pick.

If I really did like Crystal, I'd just say no to Jeri. But if I liked Jeri, I'd say no to Crystal.

Not just as a dance partner though. As a -partner- partner, as in a couple partner.

A boyfriend.

The nervousness returned. I didn't know what to say.

Yes, no, maybe so.

Don't screw up, Takato.

Jeri stared at me, as if my face had suddenly turned extremely deformed. I bet she's thinking 'What's taking him so long?' The truth is, I didn't know why I was taking so long. Probably the nervousness. I felt my face grow red, I was so embarrassed, but the nervousness kept me sitting there like a freakin' statue.

It was so. Freakin'. Nerve racking.

Finally, after what seemed like forever of waiting, after Jeri's eyes boring a hole in my head, my nervousness growing, my face turning so red I looked like Guilmon after a sunburn, my stomach getting butterflies and flipflops and my nervousness wanting me to break down into itty bitty pieces, like a wrecking ball would to a crumbling building, I did it. I said it. Squeaked it, kinda, but I said it.

"...Yeah, okay."

Jeri smiled, and leaned over to kiss my cheek. I felt my face grow hotter than before, and she got off my bed, and walked out of my room. I heard a small, "Practice starts tommorrow morning!" as she walked, and then she disappeared.

She seemed triumphant.

I gasped, as if I had finished holding my breath for half an hour. Maybe an hour. Or two hours. I felt like I had held my breath that long while Jeri was here, anyway.

After she left, and I had calmed down, I continued to sit on my bed, contemplating. What in the world had just happened? I breathed deeply, partly from the lack of air before, partly from wondering if it would help me think.

I must have dozed off a bit, because I had the weirdest dream of me dressed up as Guilmon, Jeri with Katzeimon's ears and tail, and Crys with Puppi's ears and tail. Both of the girls were tugging on me as if I was Guilmon.

I rubbed my head. Deep thought must give me weird dreams.

I looked out my window, which was now my naturally occurring clock. It was dark, and the moon was out, pale and white against a dark atmosphere, and the moon was so bright it almost hurt to look at. Palm trees that grew on the beach held their leaves out, trying to grasp the stars.The waves crashed against the shore in a repetative manner, yet the waves were never really the same.

I creaked the door open and went outside, in order to take a walk. I walked along the shore, the waves tickling at my bare feet, creeping up my ankles desperate to hold onto me, but were called back into the sea.

I saw a silhouette dancing a few feet away from me, far enough so that I couldn't detect its face. But I had a good idea of who it was. Pearly-colored sand flew in the air, wanting to join the stars as the figure danced against the moonlight. The figure's hair twisted and turned as it danced, curving the air as the figure swayed to and fro, moving with nature's music.

I approached, and saw Crystal's face, gleaming in the moonlight. She smiled at me, her eyes catching the moonlight and shining slightly.

I sat down, wanting to watch her performance once again, but instead, Crystal sat down and joined me. She slipped her arms around my waist, and I held her close for a bit. This was the only affection I had with her the whole beach trip; With Jeri around, it was hard otherwise.

"Why're you out here?" She asked me, curiously.

"My nap gave me a weird dream."

"Do I wanna know?"

"Not really."

We sat in silence for a while, holding each other. Then, suddenly, Crystal spoke.

"Takato... I know."

"Know what?"

"I know you know that Jeri and I are competing, I know that you think I don't know, and I know that Jeri asked you to be your dance partner, and think that I don't know."

"...Oh."

Crystal looked at me, and suddenly laughed in this serious moment. "That's a lot of 'I know's."

"Yeah.." I said, chuckling a little as well.

Crys looked into my eyes again, and the mood grew serious. "Takato... did I ever tell you why I dance?"

"No, you didn't."

"My parents... they wanted me to be a great dancer. I just wanted to be a regular kid. But they constantly tried to teach me how to dance, but I refused to listen... it was a battle of what they wanted, and what I wanted."

"So what happened?"

"I finally yelled at them, saying that I wanted to be a normal kid, and they let me. I think they work for fate though, because soon after that, I wanted to learn how to dance, and I ended up asking someone, like you did."

"Who'd you ask?"

"A guy that I knew, kinda liked. Named Derek (AN: Yes, I'm putting my ex-boyfriend in here, for the sake of people who want to yell at him xD). He taught me how to dance... but I never told him I liked him, and he ended up finding a girlfriend right when I was almost done with my lessons."

"This sounds familiar."

"It is. But I was never able to tell him I liked him, so I ended up having to move on and quitting my lessons. I told my parents a little while after that I had taken dance lessons, and they were pretty smug about it, but they helped me learn everything else I needed."

"So what's the moral of this story, Mother Goose?"

"Haha, very funny. I'm not gonna tell you anymore."

Crystal sat quietly, and finally I pestered her. "Okay, sorry... so really, what's the point of telling me all this?"

She glanced at me, as if to study if I was "worthy" enough to hear it. She finally closed her eyes with a small smile.

"Basically Takato... There are gonna be times when you have the things you want, and the things you think you want, other times when you have the things you want, and the things someone else wants. And sometimes, even if you choose the 'wrong' thing, life's gonna twist it so your life's back on track."

"What about if your life seems to be a non-stop trail of bad things half the time?"

Crystal stood up, brushing the sand off. She had a look of deep thought on her face, and then she grinned, finding her answer. "Good things gotta happen at some points. You know this. You can't have pot holes without the road."

She started to walk away, then paused in her tracks. She turned to look at me. "Oh, and Takato... since you know that I know that you knew now, do you know what I'm probably gonna ask you next?"

I glanced at her, and had a slight smile on my face. "If I can be your dance partner, right?"

"Yeah. Wanna answer that yourself?"

"Sure, I'll be your partner."

Crystal smiled. "Thanks for answering my question."

"Technically, wasn't it mine?"

"You know what I mean."

Crys sprinted over to me and gave me a kiss on the cheek, on the same place Jeri had kissed me this afternoon. I blushed lightly in the moonlight, and Crystal smiled, and sprinted away.

I stood there, not knowing what to do. Things felt complicated, -WERE- complicated, and I didn't know what to do about it. I thought about what Crystal said, about what I wanted, about what they wanted, and the potholes without the road.

Is it possible, to have potholes without the road?

--

I know. I suck at endings. Shut up.

I noticed that Takato's really OOC, not to mention that he seems to be more flustered by Jeri than by Crystal.. which I will get around to explaining. I think.

But wow! For the first time, I have more reviews than I do chapters. That's... interesting. oO First time that's ever happened to me. Especially when my fic is this long. Thank you so much! I am very glad to have the reviews and it means a lot to me. I really hope you enjoyed this chapter. I may take a while to write up the next chapter, but I shall get it done. I think. But yeah! Just be patient, your reviews really inspire me (Thank you YearoftheCat, you inspired me to finish that last chapter) and I hope you just end up liking the outcome X3 


	11. Confessions Breaking the Silence

This chapter is titled "Confessions Breaking the Silence", and again is inference to my real life. It's been ages since I've written anything so forgive me if there are really bad mistakes. Before I start this chapter, I'd like to thank a few people.

Liahime - "Thorns" is possibly the best fanfic I've ever written and you finally motivated me to get off my lazy Tamer-fanfic-writing butt and start typing. xD

Lancin - For keeping me one of the happiest people around.

Mrs. Chang - My new dance teacher. For making me realise how hard Dance is...

Derek - For coming back into my life, 'nuff said

You guys - All you readers and reviewers out there help tons.

I'll talk more at the end of this. Read, review, enjoy, etc!

--

A week and a half had slid by since that night of confusion, but it felt like forever since then. I arose sleepishly from my afternoon nap, slipping out of my bed, but I felt awake soon afterwards. My naps had become frequent, and for a good reason - I spent early mornings, as well as late nights, preparing for the second round of the rigorous competition. Practice started at those times and I wanted the energy to move about without crashing into a wall.

I walked around, trying to grab my sense of time. I heard very little sound and it was hard to see, nocturne cloaking the area. I decided it was probably 8:30 PM, at the latest, and headed towards Crystal's room.

I creaked the door open, peeping my head in. "Crys...?"

A small cough emitted from the bed, and I let myself in. "Feeling any better?"

"Not much," The voice replied, and I saw Crys push the sheets away from her head. "I hate being sick."

"I know. I can tell."

"How's Jeri's lessons going?"

"Not too bad. I still have no idea what I'm doing when I dance though..."

"She'll tell you soon enough. Or you'll find out. Either one."

"Anything you want me to practice for our routine tonight?"

"Nah... not tonight. I'm still not well enough to get up."

"When do you think you'll be better?"

"I have no clue... most likely a few days before the second round."

"Do you think you'll win?"

I heard her rustle around in the dark, and I could make out the faint outline of what looked like a slightly bothered look. A small sigh emitted from her mouth.

"Honest? I don't think I will."

I reached out for Crystal's hand and pat it with my own. "You have some pretty tough competition... but I think you can beat it."

I saw a faint smile in the dark, and she laughed. "We'll see how it goes soon."

"All right," I stood up, and leaned over, kissing her cheek lightly. "You should rest."

She nodded, and smiled. "Talk to you soon, Takato."

A slight creaking noise emit from the door as I closed it lightly, trying hard not to make any startling noises. As I tugged the door shut, I heard a voice behind me.

"What're you doing up?"

I jumped slightly. I whipped around, and there infront of me, Jeri stood with her hands on her hips.

"Uhm... hi."

"What're you doing up?" She repeated.

"Checking on Crys... I was hoping she was feeling better."

"Guess not, ne?"

"Yeah..."

"I hope she gets better soon," Jeri said, looking down with a concerned look. "She really is a great dancer, and it's fun being in a competition with her."

I must've had an odd look on my face, because Jeri soon questioned, "Is something wrong?"

"Th-that just caught me off guard."

"Off guard?"

"Well..." I shuffled my feet around. "You two seemed like rivals, of the sort."

Jeri laughed slightly, and it lingered in the hall, breaking the silence of the night. I looked at her curiously, and she spoke.

"We're not rivals. We just happen to be competitors in the same competition."

"True," I said, with a slight smirk. Competitors in the same competition over me, I thought.

I felt a slight tug on my hand, and Jeri stood off to the side, her fingers touching my palm slightly. "Wanna go outside?"

"Sure."

We walked through the halls, passing by doors that were left open. I glanced in one and I saw Rika sleeping, as well as Renamon in the corner, the fox sitting with her knees wrapped close to her fennec body and her tail curled up at her feet. She opened her eye slightly at the sound of feet against the wooden floors. She looked curiously at us, but gave a hesitant but accepting nod as we passed.

Jeri opened the flimsy wooden door, and wind brushed against our faces letting the cold night are in. She lead me down the steps, as I stared up at the sky, bright and clear, with dark clouds hanging low and swirling slowly but endlessly in the night breeze.

"Wow... It's nice out here..." I heard her whisper.

"Are you cold, at all?"

"No, I'm okay."

An awkward silence fell afterwards. I studied Jeri's face, and it seemed... lost, somewhere.

I don't remember how it happened, but I remember her taking my hand, and suddenly smiling.

"What is it?" I asked her. Her spontaneous smile seemed peculiar.

"Do you want to dance?"

"Wha?"

"C'mon. I know you haven't seen our dance put altogether." I saw Jeri smile again. "Here's your chance to see it."

I had a smirk on my face, and I replied, "Well, all right. Just tell me which part you want me to put together with the rest."

She nodded, and I took her in my arms, and she whispered the directions to me. I swung her outwards, sand flying into the air from her foot brushing against the surface of it, and the weight of her body balanced on her right foot, holding my hand lightly for balance. I couldn't even feel her within my touch as we moved about.

The feelings as I felt while I danced were amazing. Honestly. I don't really know how to explain it, but it was a mixture of excitement and energy and... emotions, I suppose. My mind felt as if it was drifting about in a wonderful place as I danced. In fact, it didn't even feel like I was dancing - it was like I was gliding against the silver sands of the beach.

I felt Jeri fall into my arms one last time, and she looked at me with a small, gentle smile.

"Well...?" She asked. "Like my choreography?"

"Like it?" I grabbed her hands. "I didn't just like it! It was amazing, it was full of emotion, it was--"

"Good, I'm guessing?"

"It was..." I tried to put my finger on an analogy. "It was like falling inlove! It made me feel like I was flying, as if I had grown wings and soared through the skies and... I feel like I fell inlove all over again, all those emotions felt exactly like that.."

I saw Jeri blush slightly. "Well, I'm glad you like it at least." She had a slight hint of pride as she spoke, but I could tell she was trying to supress it.

Suddenly, I felt my arms wrap around her. I saw Jeri's cheeks flush a slight crimson color.

"What're you doing?" The faintest whisper escaped from her mouth, as she stood stunned.

"Is there something wrong with what I'm doing?" My voice was faint as well, almost raspy at the low tone of it. The words slid off my tongue calmly, but at the same time shaky for some reason. 'What am I doing?' I asked myself. My thoughts had the same question that Jeri had asked. What was I doing, anyway? I couldn't seem to control my own body at that moment, and I couldn't seem to do anything to stop myself.

I felt Jeri turn in my embrace, her eyes facing directly straight into mine. She shifted uneasily, but I felt my grip on her stay tight.

"This isn't... right, I suppose."

"Why not?"

"Because... because..." I heard Jeri stutter, her eyes shifting their glance off to the side. She could not seem to look me in the eye.

I leaned close to her, my face directly next to hers. "I won't tell if you don't."

"What? Takato, is there something wrong with you?"

'There is something wrong with me... What the heck am I doing?' I felt like part of me was watching myself externally, as if I was watching a movie. But I couldn't do anything about it. My sanity was gone. My control over my body was gone. I had no idea what to do, and things felt chaotic in my mind, and yet so calm without it in my body.

My body continued to control itself. "Yeah, there is something," I heard my voice say.

"What is it?"

"I..." I closed my eyes, breathing in sharply. 'What the heck are you doing, Takato?' My thoughts were screaming at me now, desperately trying to awaken my puppeteered body. 'What's going on? Why are you acting so weird around Jeri?'

I felt myself wrap my arms around her again, and my mouth blurting out something I knew I never should've said.

"I can't seem to tell myself I'm not inlove with you anymore."

Jeri had a blank expression on her face. She looked like she was caught between petrified and confused, and she seemed just as confused as my thoughts were.

Suddenly, I felt her lips against mine, and my thoughts were screaming, shouting, wailing at me desperately. They seemed in chaos overdrive and I could do nothing of it. But once again Jeri took the actions of my thoughts and pushed me away, looking at me with great fear in her eyes, and I stood dimwittedly as I saw her dash back inside.

My mind seemed to slip gradually back into my body, and I continued to stand helplessly on the beach. I fell down to my knees, confused and more emotionally burdened than ever.

"Wh-what..." I roughly whispered, "What in the world just went on...?"

--

Wow! This chapter took me about a month the first time I wrote it, a week the second time, and now about three days the third. Yes, this was rewritten three times - the first two times I was never pleased enough.

I started taking dance PE at school. It's actually really fun, and now I know how to describe dances a lot better - I never really watched people dance as much before, but now that I'm doing it on my own I know how to describe in detail each turn and movement. I'm now a sophmore in high school and doing pretty well, my grading period is a week from finishing.

Anyway, what you guys are all probably wondering is what's with my thanks and me talking about my real life again. Well, my life did a repeat of this fanfic. My exboyfriend came back to me out of no where and asked if he could be my friend again. I almost ended up cheating on my current boyfriend, and things became a really big mess. A lot of the stuff I wrote down just now is exactly how I felt when things started becoming a mess - even the dialogue is similar. Things have been sorted out (kinda), but I'm going to take that as an inference of what to write for a little while.

I hope you enjoyed this chapter, and I'm SUPER sorry that I have not updated this story in who knows how long now... I'll try writing more a bit sooner. 


	12. Rika

I'm getting gray hairs... Ugh.

--

"I hate you Takato Matsuki!"

For some reason, that single memory seemed to recover and reveal itself to me as I fell against my bed after that odd course of action that had happened. It seemed to echo in my mind as I stared up at the ceiling.

I remembered that cry of hatred all too well. I hadn't understood what had gone on as I heard it, but I learned soon afterwards what caused it - Crystal had felt her heart split in two.

"Crystal isn't going to be too happy about this..." I whispered to myself.

Suddenly, I heard my door open and close with a slight creak. Footsteps rumbled against the wooden floor of my bedroom and I felt my bed shake slightly. Someone's presence was next to me against the bed, sitting down near my legs, but I couldn't tell who it was.

"What were you thinking?" a voice asked me.

"Wha?"

"You heard me. What the hell were you thinking, gogglehead?"

"The problem is," I responded, as I propped myself up onto the bed so I made eye contact, "is that I wasn't thinking."

"You weren't thinking. What a lovely excuse."

"Look, I know it sounds bad, Rika."

"So then what? Do you just end up falling for every girl you see and that's around you?" She had a nasty tone to her voice as she looked at me ice-cold with those pale violet colored eyes of hers. I could see just from her stare why they called her the ice queen.

"No! It's just..."

"Then I don't see your point."

I sighed. "This is all too hard to explain to you."

"Try me."

"I love Crystal... I just don't understand why I kissed Jeri."

"Is that all?"

"It's the easiest way I can explain it right now."

"It's a dumb explanation."

I fell silent. I lacked a remark for that one.

Rika sighed. "Lemme tell you something about Crystal."

"What?"

"She doesn't take too well to things that break her heart." She shifted uneasily on the bed.

"Yeah, I can kinda tell."

"No... I mean... remember when she ran away back when she was an exchange student here?"

"Yeah... a little too well."

"She was worse when her parents were splitting up. She used to live over here, with her parents. Her mom decided to move to California... She disappeared for two weeks, and the police had to track her down."

"So I'm guessing--"

Rika interrupted me, although she answered my question. "My point is that this is probably going to get her just as bad."

"What do I do about it then?"

I heard a long sigh. "I think the best thing you can do is tell her."

"That doesn't make any sense, though!" I was sitting right up by then, practically yelling at her. "If this is gonna hurt her so much then why would I tell her?"

"Shhhh! The others are gonna hear you!" She hissed loudly. "You don't exactly have a soundproof room you know!"

I lowered my voice to match her volume. "Why would I tell her?" I asked again.

"Because she's gonna have to find out from somewhere. And if she doesn't hear it from you she's going to think you're a cheating bastard."

I fell silent again, but quickly spoke up again in my own defense. "Isn't there some way she doesn't have to find out?"

"Do you want her to think you're a liar?"

I bit my lip. "So there's no way around this."

"Nope."

"... Can I tell her after the second round?"

"What?" Rika looked at me in a peculiar way.

"The second round is the partner dance. If I were to tell her before that... that would mean that she might get disqualified."

"Takato!" She was practically yelling in my ear, "WHY are you thinking about the freakin' DANCE COMPETITION right now!"

"Lower your voice!" I hissed at her. "I'm worrying about it because I don't want her to hate me if she does end up dancing with me anyway... And also, I know she's been working hard. This dance competition means a lot to her."

"Well... You're right about that one." Her voice dropped a few octaves quickly. "This is her first competition since she stopped taking the lessons her parents gave her."

I blinked suprisingly. "Crystal hasn't been in a competition for that long?"

"Yup. She's hoping that she might be able to bring the trophy back for her parents, and show them that she can still dance."

"What, they don't believe in her?"

"Not really. They've always been kinda doubtful that she's going to quit again... And that her skills aren't as good as they used to be."

"Well, that's a good enough reason for me to want to help her."

"Takato.. you realise that she might disappear again after the second round, right?"

"...I guess I gotta be willing to take that chance."

A smirk lay on Rika's face as she got up, and she walked towards the door, her back facing me.

"Well... just don't forget about it. Tell her right after the second round."

--

I lack enthusiasm today. Uhm... please review. 


End file.
